Somatic Exercises to Take You From Freeze State to Safety and Connection
When working within the Polyvagal nervous system regulation framework, we know that in order to bring someone out of a freeze and dissociated state, we need to gently mobilize their nervous system within their capacity. Here are some effective somatic exercises for working with the freeze state.
When working within the Polyvagal nervous system regulation framework, we know that in order to bring someone out of a freeze and dissociated state, we need to gently mobilize their nervous system within their capacity.
We don’t want to overstimulate or overwhelm their system, but we want their system to experience a little bit of activation within their capacity. It’s in this way that their system will begin to experience expansion and their window of tolerance — what they can tolerate without moving into fight or flight — will grow. The key is to to know how to regulate nervous system physiology, which can include either knowing how to calm your nervous system or how to gently stimulate it— depending on what you need.
Where you are on the nervous system “map” will determine which somatic exercises may be the most effective for you
In How to map your own nervous system, we discussed the three different subsystems of the Polyvagal system: Ventral vagal which is the state of connection and safety, the Sympathetic system, which is the state of fight and flight or mobilization, and the Dorsal Vagal system, which is the state of freeze and immobilization.
Many people are stuck in the Freeze state or what we call “functional freeze,” where they are able to function or even excel in their jobs, but feel numb and unfulfilled, self isolate, and feel like they’re in a fog when at home.
Others find themselves ping ponging between flight and flight state and freeze states. Often this looks like feeling exhausted and dissociated (detached from their bodies) but easily startled by sounds or activated by anything even remotely stressful and then they plunge back into freeze. In the Polyvagal world, this is called having one foot on the brake and one foot on the gas, and it’s exhausting to live like this.
Somatic exercises for freeze state
These Somatic exercises are some of my favorite practices to help you gently mobilize while staying well within your capacity. Try one or all of them and see whether any of them shift you .01%. You’re not looking for a huge shift — you want a tiny subtle shift. Then, you practice it every day. I know, that’s the hard part, but think of it as training your nervous system — creating new neural pathways… new neural habits, a tiny bit at a time. After 3 weeks, see what you notice.
This is my favorite somatic exercise for gently mobilizing when in a dissociated or freeze state. Often, when we’ve been immobilized, we also feel stiff because we haven’t been moving, so this addresses both the physical mobility as well as moving energy stuck in the joints.
When in freeze state, some people feel exhausted and can barely get out of bed or off the sofa, but as tired as they feel, they can’t sleep either. If you can relate to this, try doing this while lying in bed. Some people report falling asleep while listening to the audio. Doing only a few of the movements regulates them enough that their sleep improves. Think about it this way, when we feel safe, our bodies will do what they naturally need to do. Sometimes, the most important thing is to sleep deeply.
For this exercise, Moving the Joints, I’m sending you to my Insight Timer account for a free guided audio recording. You may need to download Insight Timer on your phone or go to insighttimer.com to set up a free account and then click on this link.
Click on this link for Moving your Joints audio recording.
Please follow me on Insight Timer for access to other free audio recordings.
Squeezing your arms and legs
This exercise is especially helpful if you feel dissociated in your limbs. It helps bring awareness back into your limbs. Begin by squeezing your upper arms, from your shoulder to your elbow and from your elbow to your wrist. Then do the same for your thighs and then lower legs.
Anchoring your container
Our hands take up 35% of the real estate in the sensorsy part of your brain. This means that your hands are influential when bringing attention and awareness to different parts of your body.
Often when we’re in freeze or dissociated state, we aren’t connected to parts of ourselves. We don’t feel our lower body or limbs.
What we’re doing in this exercise is using our hands to bring awareness to the parts of ourselves that feels disembodied and drawing the energy downwards in to our feet on the ground.
Exercise:
Begin by having your feet flat on the floor or ground. Wiggle your toes and feel the connection with your feet and toes. Then, place your hands on your upper body or lower body — wherever you feel disembodied — and begin to stroke downwards. You can do this on your head and face, arms, torso, hips, and then really focus your attention on your legs, knees, lower legs and feet. You continuously stroke downwards towards your feet and the floor. Spend extra time stroking your feet and heels, feeling the connection to the ground.
Orienting + grounding exercise
This is one of the most important exercises you can do daily. You’ll practice feeling your body on your chair or bed as well as looking around the room and orienting. Animals in the wild do this exercise naturally to let themselves know they’re safe. Babies orient constantly. When we practice these innate nervous system exercises, our brain recognizes these as familiar and signals to our brain and body that we’re safe.
Download Insight Timer free app or go on Insighttimer.com and click on the link below for a free 7-minute audio recording.
Click on this link for “Orienting + Grounding.”
Voo
This is an effective Somatic Experiencing® exercise that gently stimulates the vagus nerve by vibrating all of the organs.
When we’re in freeze, our body signals the brain that it’s not safe. Then the body operates at a low level and conserves energy. But when we Voo, we create a gentle vibration throughout the entire system and the vagus nerve connects all the internal organs and signals to the brain that the body (including the lungs, heart, organs, and digestive system) is safe, and the body slowly mobilizes.
Exercise:
To practice Voo, sit comfortably. Because the vagus nerve innervates both sides of your face and neck, you can place one of both hands on the sides of your neck so you can feel the vibration.
Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, make a low, deep sound of “Voo.” Think of the Voo sound being like the low deep sound of a fog horn on the water at night.
When you complete your Voo, sit for a moment and feel yourself.
Then repeat once again. Only do this 2-3 times as it’s sneaky powerful and you don’t want to overdo it.
Sit with yourself for a few moments. Some people may observe some physical sensations, notice some images, emotions, or feel a little activated. If it feels like too much, do less next time. Our goal is to gently mobilize, so it’s okay to be a tiny bit activated as long as it feels completely tolerable and doesn’t put you in fight or flight. This builds capacity in your nervous system.
Remember that the nervous system is super sensitive and processes more slowly than your rational, thinking brain does. So don’t overthink or overanalyze or over judge what’s happening. You’re in new territory!
What is Somatic Experiencing®?
Somatic Experiencing® is a body first approach to dealing with the problematic (and oftentimes physical) symptoms of trauma. It helps individuals create new experiences in their bodies; ones that contradict those of tension and overwhelming helplessness.
Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-based method that helps people process trauma and other symptoms of stress, shock, and anxiety.
SE® is based on the idea that healing the physical experience of trauma (as it’s felt in the body) can also heal the emotional experience.
WHAT IS TRAUMA?
Peter Levine is an author, teacher and the creator of the Gold Standard of trauma therapies, Somatic Experiencing® (SE).
Dr. Levine says that trauma may begin as acute stress from a perceived life-threat or as the end product of cumulative stress. Both types of stress can impair a person’s ability to function with resilience and ease and live in the present moment.
Trauma may result from a wide variety of stressors such as accidents, invasive medical procedures, sexual or physical assault, emotional abuse, neglect, war, oppression, natural disasters, loss, birth trauma, epigenetics, systems, or the corrosive stressors of ongoing fear and conflict, and chronic shaming.
Years ago, trauma was defined more by external events rather than the responses human beings have to those events.
Today, it’s understood that “trauma is not WHAT happens to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you,” according to Dr. Gabor Mate
.
COMPLETING FIGHT, FLIGHT AND FREEZE RESPONSES
According to Dr. Levine, trauma can happen to anyone when they perceive a situation as a threat and are unable to complete a satisfactory fight, flight or freeze response.
Our nervous system is designed to keep us psychologically intact when we perceive we cannot keep ourselves safe in a situation. However, if we do not address the way in which our nervous system and memory categorized the event, it can take a toll on us emotionally, mentally, and physically over the years.
Dr. Levine was inspired to study stress on the nervous system when he realized that animals in the wild are constantly under threat of death from predators, yet they rarely show symptoms of trauma.
He discovered that deep trauma has to do with the third survival response to perceived life threat, which is freeze and collapse. When fight and flight are not options, both animals in the wild and humans freeze and immobilize, like “playing dead.” Its actually a brilliant system at that moment because it makes us less of a target.
However, this freeze reaction is designed to be time-sensitive, in other words, it needs to run its course, and the massive energy that was prepared for fight or flight needs to get discharged through shakes and trembling. If the immobility/freeze phase isn’t completed, that charge stays trapped in the tissues of the body, and, from the body’s perspective, the body is still under threat.
SOMATIC EXPERIENCING® IS A BODY-BASED APPROACH TO HEALING TRAUMA
The Somatic Experiencing® method works to release this stored energy and turn off this threat alarm that causes dysregulation and dissociation to the nervous system. SE® helps people understand this body response to trauma and work through a “body first” approach to healing. Within their scope of practice, SE Practitioners work with these responses in a way that supports their clients. You can learn more about how Somatic Experiencing works here.
Like, Dr. Gabor Mate, Dr. Levine believes that the traumatic event isn’t what causes long-lasting trauma, it is the overwhelming trapped response to the perceived life-threat that is causing an imbalanced nervous system.
Somatic Experiencing’s aim is to help one access the body memory (procedural memory) of the event, not the story. In SE, we focus less on the narrative of the story. The objective is to diffuse the power of the narrative and remap the body memory to regain aliveness and flow.
Somatic Experiencing® is a body first approach to dealing with the problematic (and oftentimes physical) symptoms of trauma. It helps individuals create new experiences in their bodies; ones that contradict those of tension and overwhelming helplessness. This means that healing isn’t about reclaiming memories or changing our thoughts and beliefs about how we feel, it’s about exploring the sensations that lie underneath our feelings and beliefs, as well as our habitual behavior patterns.
Resources:
https://traumahealing.org/
Are You Stuck in Survival Mode? Look Out for These 8 Warning Signs
There are two main branches of your autonomic nervous system: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. Ideally there is a healthy balance between the two.
There are two main branches of your autonomic nervous system: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. Ideally there is a healthy balance between the two.
The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for the rest and digest response.
It tells your body to:
slow down
breathe and relax
the danger is over
cortisol levels falls back to normal
your body conserves energy
your heart rate slows
your digestion increases
In this state, we feel calm, relaxed, safe and able to focus and think clearly.
However, most people chronically lean more towards the sympathetic response, which is responsible for the stress response.
We commonly know the stress response as fight and flight. Fight, flight and freeze are a survival mechanisms. (more about Freeze below.)
When you experience a threat—whether it’s real or perceived—your body tells you to take action in one of these ways:
Quickened breath and heart rate
Tensing muscles
Sweat
High blood pressure and more blood flow to your organs
Expanding blood vessels to allow you to get more blood flow and oxygen
Heightened senses
Release of blood sugar and fats from the body’s stores to be used for energy
Increased Cortisol levels (stress hormone)
If we remain in this sympathetic state longterm, we’re then in a chronic stress state, and this has longterm effects that we definitely want to avoid.
We’ve probably all experienced fight and flight states. We feel this when we’re afraid, angry, stressed, anxious and so on. We want to run and hide or we get confrontational.
Freeze is an interesting state. When we feel overwhelmed and can’t move forward, we feel stuck, we can’t get out of bed in the morning, we want to avoid people — these can all be freeze responses, which is also a stress response state of the nervous system.
The fawn response, another sympathetic nervous system response, is when we unconsciously behave in a way where we please, appease, and pacify a person we feel threatened by in order to keep safe from further harm. Often we abandon our own needs and have a lack of boundaries. It can be confused with people pleasing, but it is actually a trauma response.
Those of us who behave in this way likely began during childhood in order to feel safe, and continue it in adulthood.
Somatic Experiencing® and Havening Technique® are robust methods designed to help identify and calm of these sympathetic nervous system states and bring a person into a more balanced and regulated state.
In other words, when you learn how to regulate nervous system physiology, you automatically regulate your emotional state.
The Feldenkrais Method® is another tool designed to calm your nervous system so that you can think more clearly and rationally during a stress response. It also helps relax the muscles in your body caused by chronic stress.